


Nightmares & Cuddles

by Waning_Grace



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Daddy!Cas, Gen, Infantilism, Light Angst, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Non-Sexual Age Play, Sleepy Cuddles, baby!dean - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-11
Updated: 2018-02-11
Packaged: 2019-03-16 18:31:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13642056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Waning_Grace/pseuds/Waning_Grace
Summary: By the time Castiel is halfway out the door it's already too late-  the shuffling sounds coming from the baby monitor have turned into the start of soft crying.In which Baby!Dean has a nightmare and Cas goes to comfort him





	Nightmares & Cuddles

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Fandomnerdiness (joshifine7)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/joshifine7/gifts).



> This indulgent piece of fluff is for the lovely Fandomnerdiness (joshifine7) whose series 'A Little Family' inspired this! As in her stories Dean ages between 1/2 years old & Cas is his daddy. Gabriel & Sam (who isn't shown in this story) also live in the same house as well.

**_Like most things it all started in the middle of the night. The house had been silent for quite some hours now save for the distant sounds of Gabriel’s late-night trash TV escapades in the living room leaving Castiel to bask in the silence and stillness of his bedroom in peace. Since he had no reason to sleep the angel had been engrossing himself in a book when he heard the baby monitor crackle to life. A brief glance at the clock reveled it was nearly two in the morning—far too early for Dean to be waking up—yet there’s little doubt that’s what’s happening from the tell-tell sounds of shuffling, presumably Dean rolling over in his crib._ **

****

**_The rapid sounds of Dean suckling on his pacifier come next only to end with the baby’s hitching breath and it doesn’t take a genius to see what’s coming next. Springing into action, the book he was reading disregarded as Castiel heads for the door yet it’s already too late. By the time the angel is halfway out the door the sounds coming from the baby monitor have turned into the start of soft crying._ **

****

**_Castiel barrels down the hallway like an angel on a mission, all his thought turned towards Dean and wondering what could have woken the baby. He reaches the nursery with no problems, the door still partially open to let in a sliver of light from the hallway just as he’d left it earlier and takes no time in slipping inside. Given the late hour and the general stillness of the house the quiet cries coming from the crib are like gunshots ringing out against the silence, each one striking Castiel to the core. The baby is partially sitting up in the crib on his knees, his tear-streaked face looking frantically around the dark nursery before finally spotting Castiel near the door. “Da-daddy! Daaaa-dddy!” Dean cries openly, pacifier long discarded, as he reaches out towards his angel._ **

****

**_“Oh baby! What’s wrong?” Castiel croons softly as he crosses the room to the crib. While he doesn’t yet know the cause of his baby’s distress he can wager a guess in that waking alone in the dark partially had something to do with it. “It’s okay baby. You’re okay,” Castiel keeps up the gentle murmur as he reaches into the crib and easily lifts Dean out. While it’s not surprising to find his baby crying it breaks something in Castiel every single time he does because he knows most of the tears can be attributed to Dean’s long-held fear of being abandonment. It was something he knew Dean worried about before they started age-play yet it seemed the fear was so much more when Dean was a baby despite Castiel’s repeated assurances that he’d never leave Dean, especially when he was so vulnerable._ **

****

**_“Da-daddy!” Dean sobs, arms coming up to latch around the angel’s neck while his legs automatically wind around the Castiel’s waist as he’s lifted from the crib. There simply aren’t enough words in his little mind right now to encompass the utter relief at feeling his angel’s firm body beneath his. Somewhere deep down, logically he knows (mostly) that the angel will never truly abandon him when he’s helpless like this but waking in a cold dark crib in an equally dark room squashes that logic every single time. So, for now he’s going to cling onto his angel like a leech—the only true way to make sure daddy doesn’t leave him is not to let go!_ **

****

**_“It’s okay Dean. You’re okay.” Castiel soothes, patting a calming rhythm on the baby’s diapered butt as he starts a slow circuit around the nursery. “Daddy’s got you and he’s not going to let go. You’re okay.” He adds as he feels Dean clinging onto him like a limpet. Despite his reassurances he can feel the way his collar is growing steadily wetter from the force of Dean’s tears._ **

****

**_No matter how many times this happens—the late nights spent soothing and reassuring—it still breaks something deep within Castiel to realize that deep down Dean still expects to be abandoned someday. The worst part of it all? Castiel has no way to combat it. He tries his absolute best, have no doubt, yet the fear continues to linger above both their heads like a pendulum ready to fall.  The best Castiel finds he can do is to try ignoring the worry inside and focus his attention where it fully belongs: on Dean._ **

****

**_It takes a long time for the tears to finally slow, and even longer before they finally crawl to a stop, but eventually Dean cries himself out. He snuffles wetly, the sound partially muffled from where he has his face still buried against the angel’s collarbone. “Feeling better now, sweetheart?” Castiel hums, giving the baby a gentle bounce in his arms as they complete another circuit around the nursery. Most of the upper part of his shirt is soaked though from all of Dean’s crying and he can still feel the baby’s hitched breath hot against the skin of his neck, yet the tension in the boy’s body has finally started to fade and the angel can’t help breathing a sigh of relief._ **

****

**_Since the baby’s finally starting to calm he slows his pacing and leads them over to the large plush rocker in the corner of the room. “How about a nice cuddle, hmm? Would you like that baby?” He asks as he lowers them into the chair, taking care to maneuver Dean into a comfortable position before wrapping his arms around his still-upset babe._ **

****

**_Feeling too tired to answer verbally Dean simply nods his way along in agreement with his daddy’s plans of cuddling. After all the upset of waking up alone and all the crying that followed spending some time cuddling with daddy sounds like the best thing ever—even more so when he feels the heavy weight of Castiel’s arms wrapping securely around him. Dean hums contentedly, his fingers flexing against the back of the angel’s shirt in a partial, sleepy hug._ **

****

**_“This is nice, hmm? Just you and me baby boy, just you and me,” Castiel coos soothingly, unable to help the smile that spreads across his face at the feel of Dean’s hug. Clutching the baby tighter, he kicks off the floor with one foot to start the chair rocking and settles in for some nice relaxation time with his little one. After all the upset so far, he’s sure the two of them need it._ **

****

**_As they get settled in Dean hums contentedly, snuggling deeper into the angel’s warmth. No matter what else is going on he’s always up for a nice relaxing cuddle with his daddy and now is no different. The only thing that could possibly make it even better, he thinks, would be to have his paci to suck on. He smacks his lips together sleepily, eyes drooping, already imagining the comforting weight against his tongue when he feels something pressing against his lips._ **

****

**_As he feels the weight against his chest growing heavier Castiel can’t help but chuckling with deep affection. To him, there’s no better feeling than having his baby cradled to his chest, safe and sound. With the way Dean’s head is still tucked close he feels more than sees the baby’s lip smacking and wastes no time in reaching around the baby to rummage around the top of the side table. It takes a moment but eventually his searching fingers come across what he’s been looking for—a pale blue pacifier with a cute cartoon bee on the button part on the front—and brings it around to press gently against the baby’s lips. “Here you go baby, here’s a nice clean pacifier for you!”_ **

****

**_Pacifier? That was the magic word! De’s eyes popped open at the declaration of the one thing he wanted most at the moment only to nearly go crossed-eyed at the sight of the paci already being pressed up against his lips. His mouth opens eagerly as the nipple of the paci is carefully guided inside, only to beam widely around the mouth guard at his daddy once it was settled. De had the best daddy ever—he always seemed to know just what Dean wanted! Suckling happily at his pacifier, De squirmed his way back into a comfortable position within the angel’s arms. Above him, Castiel simply chuckles as he brings a hand up to gently run through his boy’s soft hair. “There now, that’s all better isn’t it.” He hummed, grateful to see the baby resting happy and calm within his embrace._ **

****

**_For a while the pair rock in comfortable silence with nothing but the steady sounds of De sucking on his pacifier to accompany them. While Castiel normally loves these quiet moments between Dean and himself the relative stillness of the room and the heavy weight of his baby against his chest isn’t enough to ease the worry still lurking at the back of his mind. Aside from the initial onslaught of tears that had come from waking alone there had to be another reason for the baby waking up in the middle of the night like this yet as Castiel looks about the dark nursery he can’t see anything amiss._ **

****

**_“Did you have a nightmare baby?” Castiel finally, hesitantly asks, unable to stand the quiet any longer. He can’t help but feeling bad for asking; nightmares have always been a touchy subject no matter how old Dean is, yet not knowing has slowly been driving him crazy the more time passed them by._ **

****

**_Cuddled up against his daddy, safe and warm and with his paci, De had been nearly on his way back to sleep when his daddy’s question breaks through his happy haze. Instantly the baby stills, the sounds of his pacifier stopping between suddenly lax lips as he struggles not to whimper. “Y-yeah da-daddy…” De finally whispers, not wanting to talk about it now that it’s been brought up. Why couldn’t daddy just leave it be? He was here now and De wasn’t alone no more, so everything was good as far as he was concerned!_ **

****

**_Castiel frowns at the admission, cuddling the baby closer to him. He wasn’t surprised—it wasn’t uncommon for Dean to have a nightmare—father only knew how many he had eased from Dean’s mind over the years, but he hated to see his baby suffer so. No matter his age, whether Big or Little, Dean didn’t deserve to suffer anymore than he already had. “Do you want to talk about it baby?” the angel crooned, smoothing his hand over the baby’s unruly hair. While he fully doubted the baby would want to talk about it he wanted to at least try._ **

****

**_Did he what? Had his daddy completely lost his mind?! The baby’s head popped up from where he’d been snuggling into his daddy’s chest and for a split second there was a flicker of Big Dean in those vibrant green eyes as he leveled a glare up at the angel. If Castiel thought he was going to talk about the crap he dreamed about, he had another thing coming! The nightmares were bad enough on his own (and so, so much worse when he was Little) but there was no way he was reliving through it again out loud…no matter how much his daddy wants him too. Dean shook his head stubbornly, whining out a plaintive “Noooo! Daddy no!” around his pacifier before burrowing back down into the safety of the angel’s chest once more._ **

****

**_Well…that went pretty much just how Castiel expected it would have, though he is a bit disappointed. He didn’t expect Dean to agree after all considering they’d been done this road before and it had gone pretty much the same then as it had now, yet a small part of him had hoped the baby would have agreed for once. Talking about the nightmares could be beneficial in helping ease them, Castiel knew, though for now it was better to just let the thought go. If Dean wants to talk he will and there’s little point in struggling against a stubborn, tired baby. “Okay baby, it’s okay. We don’t have to talk about it.” Castiel hums, voice as soft and comforting as he simply hugs the baby tighter. His wings come up to wrap the two of them in a cocoon of warmth that drown the rest of the world out._ **

****

**_Dean melts quickly into the embrace, all previous fleeting resistance gone in an instant. Daddy always gives the best hugs and even though Dean’s still feeling a little scared inside from his bad dream the dual pressure of his daddy’s arms and wings around him make him feel better. He simply snuggles in closer, his head coming to rest against the warmth of his daddy’s chest as he drifts to the steady sound of the angel’s beating heart._ **

****

**_For a time, there’s nothing but peace and quiet in the nursery as the pair enjoys their cuddle though after a while Castiel notices the weight against his chest start to grow heavier. He tilts his head just enough to see, and sure enough Dean’s finally fallen back asleep against him, pacifier dangling from the baby’s lax lips. Castiel huffs quietly to himself in amusement, completely unsurprised. He’s grateful to see Dean sleeping again. Sometimes getting him back down after a nightmare is just shy of impossible though it seems tonight that isn’t the case._ **

****

****

**_The first rays of sunlight are just starting to slip through the blinds covering the nursery window when the door slowly cracks open and Gabriel sticks his head inside. “Everything okay in here?” He asks, golden eyes eyeing the way Cas and Dean are still snuggled together in the rocking chair._ **

****

**_Castiel can’t help smiling at the frown and furrowed brow of confusion on his brother’s face even as he brings a finger up to his lips to shush him at the same time. For all the petty squabbling Gabriel and Dean were known to do (more so when Dean was bigger) it never failed to melt his heart to see how much Gabriel truly cared about Dean. “Everything’s fine.” Castiel whispers, shifting his wings far enough to allow Gabriel a better look at the sleeping babe.  “Dean had a nightmare, but he’s been sleeping peacefully for some time now.”_ **

****

**_The look that Gabriel shoots the two of them can only be described as fond as he finally smiles and shakes his head. “He’s lucky he has you.” He finally says, eyes still on the baby. “And it’s lucky you have him.” After a few more seconds he finally looks up, fixing his smile on Castiel. “I was about to go start breakfast. Any special requests this morning?”_ **

****

**_Castiel doesn’t say anything in response to being lucky—he doesn’t need to—and simply matches his brother’s smile with one of his own before replying: “Pancakes, please.” Dean loves pancakes and he’s sure the baby will be hungry when he finally wakes back up. “We’ll be down as soon as Dean wakes.”_ **

****

**_Gabriel chuckles, his smile knowing as he slowly starts backing out the doorway. “Pancakes coming right up! Don’t worry, I’ll make you some boring plain ones too!” Gabriel teases before his head disappears fully back into the hallway with the rest of him. “I’ll see you down there!” The door softly clicks shut, announcing his departure._ **

****

**_Castiel rolls his eyes as he extends his grace out to give his brother a poke as he heads downstairs. Truly Gabriel is something else although he couldn’t imagine life without him. Since there’s still some time until their breakfast will be ready Castiel sinks back into the chair and lets his eyes fall closed. Soon Dean will wake up and the day will properly begin but for right now he’s more than content to cuddle with Dean until then._ **


End file.
